Can art by Joey Visco Dogs and drafts? Is there any better way to celebrate yappy hour? If you are an animal and craft beer lover, this is an event you do not want to miss!...
Photo by Sindayiganza Photography. The FIFA World Cup tournament was full of thrills, drama, chaos, unity, and live television shots of devastated children in tears after their team lost a heartbreaking match. The final whistle brought...
Matthew Provençal as Thomas Andrews in ‘Titanic: The Broadway Musical’ at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea July 23 – August 15, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. The challenge to staging a production of “Titanic: The...
The Tattoo Awards featured a gallery wall populated by local artists. Here is a selection of the artwork on display! By Brianne Elizabeth @foxhallowart By Victori Leo Riel Grab Your Heart & Go by Allie Boyer @peaceflowercreations MONSTROELIZASUE by...
Photo by Jess Lee Images. I met Lily Spencer in an acting class taught by Eric Lutes, whom many television fans will remember from the 1990s sitcom “Caroline in the City.” Eric, who now lives in...
Rachel WS. Favorite Animal/ Favorite Floral Tara D’Agostino – Iron Lion Tattoo By the numbers, Tara D’Agostino got her first tattoo at the age of 15, picked up her own tattoo machine at the age of 19, opened...
Photo by Jillian Clark. There’s no feeling quite like finally being able to fully step into your own, to truly embrace your whole self and carry yourself through the world with that mentality. Not an identity...
Kai Nanfelt. Okee dokee folks… Last weekend I went on a ten-hour, each way, road trip to play a show. The drive wasn’t so bad, but the music was horrible. As I have mentioned before, I...
Photo by Isaac Laliberte Wards 2, 9 and 12 all report the same. Mendez wins in each! It appeared that Providence was perfectly poised to usher-in its first female mayor in history. The polls were closed and...
“You’re late, Brother,” she said, hovering outside the weathered cottage near a pebbly beach, indistinguishable from the shadows cast by moonlight that hit the thick hydrangeas. It was late in the evening of a seawind-chilled...
The NecronomiCon is a biennial celebration of the works of HP Lovecraft and beyond, and throughout the genre of “weird fiction.” Centered in downtown Providence, it boasts four days of literary panels, readings from various...
It’s almost Cthulhu – pardon my hiccup, I meant, “election” – season again. And if the tactics of these times don’t make your head swim and your bowls ache, as if you were being eviscerated...
When cover artist Bob Eggleton of Warwick first got interested in art and started sketching nightmarish creatures, he recalls, an aunt asked him, “What’s drawing a monster gonna get you in life?” He’s spent the last...
Skyler Shields (Kenickie) and the cast of the Theatre By The Sea (Wakefield, RI) production of “Grease” running thru July 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop! A-wop-bam-boom!” BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON JUNE 27, 2026 Grease is the...
Isham, Sheila. Teth (#8 Creation Series). 1972. Acrylic spray on canvas. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI. (Image courtesy of the Newport Art Museum.) Quite some time ago, I read a quip that the art of diplomacy...
As an international student a year into Rhode Island, yet still only a breath into America, I finally found a question that I might be able to answer – this is my continued exploration of: What...
Tucked inside the historic Harrison Steam Complex in Providence's Olneyville neighborhood, Siren Spirits is redefining what a visit to a distillery can be. Equal parts neighborhood gathering place, cocktail destination, and craft spirits experience, this...
Music makes beer taste better? In 2016, Vrije University in Brussels, Belgium, conducted a study that showed scientific evidence that music has an impact on our taste of beer. This study concluded that lower audible...
Cold Chocolate. Okee dokee folks… Well, summer is here and for me, summer is HELL! A few years back I wrote a song about my disdain of Summer for the Empire Revue’s “Cool” show. Here are...
America, the focus of this issue, runs on wealth. So here’s how to get yourself some. It’s the perfect opportunity to launch a new column aimed at helping non-one-percenters with financial matters. Feel free to...
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“Foreigner.” I find it a harsh word that I hate seeing applied to others. Yet applied to myself, it’s the only word that half conveys how baffling I find this country at times. I’d like...
In his final year at college, cover artist William Schaff truly learned what it was like to work in a studio. “I developed a course of study in general fine arts with one of my...
Rachael Warren as Diana. Photo by Mark Turek. The Next to Normal audience is exposed to waves of raw emotions drowning your soul and dampening your eyes. You may wish you had premedicated with any of...
Blaq Sav. Photos by Lillian MK Photography. Favorite Free Verse Spoken Word 2026 Ashley Hosa Sending out a big congrats to Ashley Hosa, who came to the Spoken Awards with a multitude of wonderful supporters (shoutout to Ryan!)....
The founder of the long-standing hipster-ish West Side restaurant Julians hadn’t been involved directly with the restaurant in quite some time. But his legacy persisted. A larger-than-life personality, you never knew at what event Julian...
Renowned supporter of local music and arts Lisa Gourley (Sometimes Lisa Gourleyx) passed away on June 15. Reading reactions on social media, you can’t help but notice how often the words “nice,” “kind,” and “photography”...
This beautiful Solstice moment, June 21, 2026 brings the winds of change into our lives. The pivotal points among the planetary movers and shakers of the Zodiac find Gemini, with Uranus and Ceres, reaching across...
By Olivia Lunger By Lillian MK Photography ...
Favorite Color Tattoo Evan Olin, Powerline Tattoo Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray Ryan Dowden, Dark Ritual Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray with Color Steven McDonough, Secret Safe Tattoo Runner-up: Rachel WS, Rachel WS Fine Art...
It’s a known fact that a worm lacks a footprint. Someone else, somewhere in a warehouse in Olneyville, is attempting to follow this diminutive invertebrate’s example — Frank Mastrobuono, co-owner of Earthly. Frank is an exuberant and intelligent individual with a mission to change how you look at worms, soil and sustainability. According to their […]
Blueberry Headband There is more than one version of this hybrid strain on the market. This strain was bred by Emerald Triangle seeds and is known for its lineage and the history of its phenotypes. The scent of blueberries is sure strong with this one! Lineage: Blueberry, emerald OG, Pre-98 Bubba Kush Look: Dark, purple, frosty Mood: Calming, happy, […]
Greetings, Motifians! We missed y’all in the Spring Alcohol Issue, but we had to pass on the intoxicating fun and assume the role of designated driver after our attempts to get a virtual roundtable discussion with the state’s brewers failed to ferment (see what we did there?). But we’re bellying up to the bar this […]
Since April is both Earth Month and National Poetry Month, I thought it would be fitting to write a piece on environmental activism and poetry. In the civil disobedience of Pawtucket resident Tim DeChristoper against the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline, I have seen poetry and activism converge in a profound way. Together they illuminated the […]
Festival Ballet Providence brings a New England Premiere for its final performance of the 2017-2018 season, Little Mermaid. The ballet was originally created for Charlotte Ballet in 2008. In 2016 choreographer Mark Diamond reimagined the production, bringing to it more color, more scenery and more whimsical costumes. “This is an all-new version with elaborate […]
Recreational marijuana and medical marijuana (MM) are the same plant, but when it comes to application there is a great divide. Most people don’t really understand how medical marijuana works – unless you are on a MM program yourself, to get the real story you need to talk to someone who is. There’s a wide […]
The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has a long history. Marijuana tea was prescribed in ancient China as early as 2700BC and the plant’s use for medicinal purposes spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and East Africa. Before its prohibition, cannabis extracts were sold in pharmacies in Europe and the United States. But what […]
Welcome to Motif’s new complaint department. We are past the age when letters to the editor were numerous and needed sorting and selection. Motif gets four or five “letters to the editor” a year. What we get instead is the modern version – phone calls (some of those belong on “SNL”), texts, Facebook messages and […]
Okee dokee folks… Lately I have been waking up (not that I really sleep) with an ear worm. Now let me finish before you start getting all grossed out and thinking that I have worms in my head. An ear worm is not like the parasitic worms that my cats get. It’s a song that is stuck on […]
Rebel Reef is a local company formed in October 2017 that took a good thing and made it better and then used that better thing to make a different good thing better. You following me? Let’s back up. Jenna Fontaine is a board certified massage therapist and herbalist with 20 years of experience who owns Urban […]
